My New 24x24 V-Groove Router Design Log

[widgitmaster]

I figured that, but I'm not sure its a good idea to shut down the 65VDC power supply to the motors & G202 drivers. Or should I turn off the AC power going to the breakout board using a relay?

Widgit

[widgitmaster]

I have finished one more block for the wire track, this one will connect to the large junction block in the rear of the router. The junction block will be mostly hollow, and have all the wires from the wire track plus two more motor sockets. They will all merge into one larger RPC (round pin connector), then a jumper cable will connect the router to the big drawer.

Most all of the connectors have been ordered and received, so I started making the jumper cable. This was a bit tricky, as it has seven cables with a total of 29 conductors. Each conductor was trimmed to an exact length, crimped & soldered to a female pin. Each pin was inserted into a specific hole number in the connector. Then the cables were pushed through a large 3/4" dia heat shrink tube, along with a boot which screws to the back of the connector. The boot is also made with heat shrink tubing, and has a hot melt glue coating its inside. With all the pins inserted in one connector, I used my heat gun to shrink all the tubing around the cables. This has produced an amazingly strong and professional looking custom cable, thanks to MOUSER.COM !

Now I will wait for the second boot to arrive before I can complete the other end of the jumper cable. But this end mus be tested throughly before I use the heat gun to seal it!

Widgit

[widgitmaster]

A little more progress!
I have started on the large junction block, starting with a solid block of black Delrin 6 3/8" x 4 1/8 x 4 1/8.
After milling all six sides flat, parallel & square, I milled the 1/4" deep boss on one end. The boss has four #10-24 UNC threaded holes that match the transition block on the end of the lower wire track. There is also a 3" deep elongated slot milled for the cables to pass through.

On the center of the bottom side, there is a .160" deep square pocket with a 1.500" dia bore. the pocket also has four #6-32 UNC holes for fastening the 36-pin RPC.

Next I will drill the mounting holes through the block, which will have #10-24 SHCS x 5" long. Then I will mill a deep cavity from the side that mounts to the back of the router, and two more pockets for the smaller RPC's.

Widgit

[CarveOne]

There are more knowledgeable folks here than I am when it comes to estop setups. I haven't installed mine yet. I was planning to use a relay board to shut off AC power to the router and to the AC input of the stepper controller power supply. I assume that if there is a real reason to use the estop you also don't want the router to continue running - for safety reasons.

I'm watching your build with keen interest. The final results should be as rewarding as the build has been. Thanks for the "show".

CarveOne

[widgitmaster]

Another part finished!
Today I finished up the junction block, and removed the rear plate so that I could drill & tap the mounting holes.

Next I pulled all the wires through the blocks, and clamped it in place with a big parallel clamp. The block requires #10 SHCS x 4" long, and they are on order!Now all the motor sockets are wired, and all of the limit switches. All of the wire ends have had their pins crimped & soldered, and are plugged into the large 36 pin socket on the bottom of the junction block.

The nice thing is the entire wire track harness with all the Delrin transition blocks can be removed as a one piece unit, all that is required is the upper & lower limit switch wires be disconnected from the barrier strips!

Widgit

[widgitmaster]

All the material is in for the swing arm which supports the console!

I have a large block of Nylon to use as the lower pivot bearings, and have just won a large block of virgin Teflon for the console's pivot. The console will sit on a flange with four radial slots, that will have four shoulder bolts. The post will be made of three sections welded together, forming an offset of 6.75"

The console will have a pair of drawer slides for the mini-keyboard, and several buttons, switches, an MPV, and an E-Stop switch all on a sloped panel. Above that will be a 14" LCD monitor.

All the wiring will run inside the 2 1/2" dia aluminum, and enter at the back of the big box!

Now I had obtained one of the "Monitor Swing Arms", but it doesn't look like it belongs to my machine! So I decided to build my own!

Widgit

[widgitmaster]

This morning I started on the pedestal supports; fortunately, the extra material from making the tall side plates was the exact size needed! So I didn't have to buy more stock

First I made a quick layout,then band sawed the excess material off. Then I removed the hard jaws from my vise, and stoned the top nice and smooth so my plates would not get scratched up! Then I milled the edges of both plates with a face mill, using a pair of clamps so that I could flip the parts and machine both edges parallel.

Now I have the plates laying flat on top of the vise, and using my table stop milled one end square. With a little shuffling, I moved the part & stop so the plate extended over the edge of the vise. This way I can drill & bore a 3" dia hole in each plate for the nylon bushings.

After the bores were done, I drilled two 1" dia holes which will become the fillet radius. Then I band sawed the excess material off, and used an end mill to blend the 3.525 dimension with the fillet radius. This went quickly, as I could flip the part and do each side. Now the end of these plates will get a radius milled on them using the rotary table, but not right now! Its time to setup the lathe and make two nylon bushings!

For now, I will only turn the OD of the bushings, as I have not made the mating parts and don't know the exact diameter to use. After the OD of the bushings was completed, I started working on the upper flange. This has a lot of material to remove, so I hogged it off .100"/dia per pass. Now it's time to eat some food, and let this block cool down! Tomorrow I will do a little more!

Widgit

[widgitmaster]

More progress today!
This morning I started making the collars that will slide on the tubing, and keep the post from sliding down. After the blanks were cut in the band saw, I drilled a 1/2" hole in the center of the two 3/4" thick plates. Then I put the rotary table on the mill, with an old fixture plate. The plate had a 1/2-13 UNC thread in the middle, so I bolted the collar blank to the center of the rotary table. The plan is to make the OD round, and finish them in the lathe using the same soft jaws I made for the Nylon bushings.

Now I need to modify the fixture plate, so that it has a 3" dia boss which will center the bore of the two big plates I made yesterday!! With another round disk, I used the same 1/2-13 bolt to clamp the plates to the fixture. Now I simply milled the nose radius on the two plates.

Now I need to modify the fixture plate again, as the four sharp corners protruding over the edge of the rotary table make it difficult to see the 360 divisions, so I milled them off to the same diameter as the rotary table!
Lastly, I drilled another 1/2" hole in the flange I made yesterday, so that it too can be centered on the rotary table. After dialing in the flange, I washed all the old ink off the rotary table's dials, using some acetone. Then I carefully put a blue line every 45°, and drilled eight 23/64" dia holes. Now with a 3/8" two flute ball end mill, I carefully milled the radial slots in the face of the flange.

There is little left to do on these parts, as I have to wait for the rest of material to arrive to see what dimensions I should use.

So far, the two support brackets which mount on the table are nearly finished, I simply need to decide where on the table it will be positioned before I can drill any holes!

Widgit

[widgitmaster]

Nothing like a quiet 3-day weekend to finish up on the wiring schematic for this project!

After splitting the diagram into two sections which represent the drawer and the console, I was able to see exactly how many wires will be inside the riser tube for the console!
This made it a lot easier to search through the Mouser catalog, looking for the best connectors for the back of the drawer!
Most of the low voltage wires are 22-AWG, and all the AC lines are 16-AWG. Finding the best connector for the AC was a bit tricky; however, a phone call to the Mouser tech department made the selection easy!

Again, I wait for the components to arrive!

Widgit

[widgitmaster]

Today I started working on the parts for the console. The base plate and the pivot with the radial slots are nearly finished, but I still need to wait for the aluminum post to arrive.

The base plate has a .313" x .375" deep step on all four edges, along with four 5/16-18 UNC threaded holes for the shoulder bolts and the pivot. After the base plate was partially finished, I decided to make and mount the side plates.

The side plates are 5/16" thick MIC-6, and have a 45° angle on one corner. But first I need to drill & tap the #8-32 UNC holes on the narrow edges of the base plate. Then a matched set of holes with 82° countersink on the two side plates.

Now there will be many more small holes & countersinks to fasten the top, front, back & bezel plate. But all I did today was to mill the stock to size.

Two boxes of flat head screws have been ordered as well!

to be continued...

[widgitmaster]

A little more progress today!
First thing this morning I started making the parts for the offset tube which will hold the console. The 2 1/2" OD x 1/4" wall tubing arrived yesterday, and immediately gut to length. Because there will be lots of wires running through this tube, I decided it would be a good idea to put a radius on the open ends. Prior to welding all three segments together, I will use my die grinder to remove the sharp edges from the inside of the angular connection.

I thought about using a 45° tool and scrape the radius on the open ends, but a .25 Radius end mill will do it much easier! After putting the end mill in a .625 to .500 reducer bushing, I turned the end mill so one flute was on centerline with the part. Then I used a steady rest to keep the long tube supported while it turned at 70 RPM. With lots of oil on the steady rest, the radius went in nicely!

After one end of two tubes were done, I removed the steady rest and put a large center in the tail stock. This will support the end of the tube as I turn the three diameters. My tail stock is still set true from the last time I used it! As it gave me .0003" taper over 24"

After both tubes were turned, I proceeded to bore the upper flange, so it had a nice slip fit on the upper tube. The flange will get three setscrews to lock it into its final position.
Next I bored the locking collars to fit two of the diameters on the longer bottom tube. Then I bored the nylon bushings until they gave me a nice slip fit after they were pressed into the mounting brackets. When done, the offset tube will rotate in the brackets approximately 180°, and the upper console will rotate 45° on top of the tube.

This whole console will be built like a battle ship, and could have been made entirely from sheet metal! But what fun would that be!

Widgit.

[BobWarfield]

Use a corner rounding end mill as a form tool on a lathe?

Me slaps the side of me head: good idea!

That swing arm is looking soooo sweet!

Cheers,

BW